Guitar Party Nightmare

Clubber babes, Cindy (Pamela Walt) and Mindy (Haley Mancini) find to their horror that everyone at this party is strumming classic rock sing-alongs. When Cindy finds Mindy making out with one of the D-Bags, annoyance becomes terror! Can Cindy escape this GUITAR PARTY NIGHTMARE?

WINNER
1st Place Jury
Scary or Die Film Fest 2010

WINNER
Best Comedy
Angeleno Film Fest 2010

OFFICIAL SELECTION at the Thriller Chiller Film Fest and Route 66 Film Fest 2010.

Where did this all come from? Ground zero for the guitar zombies was a party at the house of one Robbie Rist. My buddy, Jake Hames had invited me along to Robbie's house party, and I was stoked to go. You see, Robbie is kindof a big deal. He played Cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch. He also voiced some great characters including Michelangelo in the original ninja turtles films. Little did I know that Robbie is also an avid guitar player and performer. In fact, all his friends are too. (Ominous Guitar Chord Here)

As we entered the party, we were greeted by a rousing sing along of Hotel California on the back patio. OK, I thought, where's that keg? Beer in hand, next step is to snack up, right? I squeezed into the kitchen where... what? Another sing along was going down. This time it was to Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. No need to panic, I thought to myself. I loaded a plate with chips and dip and relocated to the living room. Guess what, some dude was playing American Pie. I mean, full on belting it out. I just... I just wasn't ready for this enthusiasm. Apparently, I was the only one not feeling the singalong blissful vibrations coursing through the air. What could I do, but evacuate to the porch. Holy shit. A little group was playing Come to My Window by Melissa Ethridge.

I will now state for the record, that all the guitar players were excellent, and to Robbie's credit, I did end up having a great time, but between you and me (and the blogosphere) I needed about five cups from the keg to stifle my sing along anxiety. Then I thought,"HEY! This would make a funny sketch for my UCB sketch writing class. Booyah. The rest is not history, but it's on YouTube.

Production was something of a Red Camera Party Nightmare. I say that jokingly. It could have been way worse. Wait. It was great, it was just a LONG day. I tend to get ambitious with scheduling film shoots. There's so much to get in so little time. GPN was particularly challenging for me because I had to direct AND act AND play some D-Baggy songs on the guitar (Hootie and the Blowfish anyone?)That chalks up to lots of takes and a 2AM wrap time. Sorry guys.

In every shoot, there are many heroes. This one was an exception, no heroes, just really freak'in hard workers. Dave Swuz, you were the best AD (bad cop) no money could buy. Ricardo Moreno, you brought an expensive camera package, and lots of talent and I paid you next to nothing. Jason Jake Jacobs, you let us destroy your house and make a mess in your yard. J Scott, you totally showed up. Just kidding, you did a fantastic job getting killed by a guitar. Nobody's eyes can bug out quite like yours.

I was thrilled with our cast and crew, and giddy that we won some awards for this little short about guitar geeks and the women who succumb to them.